Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire One of my FAVORITE THINGS - Shopping at a Car Dealership Today

believe there's a lot of truth in what you say Lee, car buying has changed over the years for certain.

in '89 I walked into the dealership and the guy I dealt with was good friends with his owner manager. They had a Buick Regal listed for around 19K IIRC, told him I'd write him a check for 16K right now. He paused for a second and said, OK.

about a 20 minute car buyin experience, no back and forth, just "will you take this for it?" yep

drove it home and gave it to the wife. Man that was a sweet lil car.

I bought a used car for my oldest daughter a few years ago. After months of looking at Autotrader we found one locally listed for $7995. We wrote down the vin number just to make sure and went to the dealer to do a test drive. We never mentioned seeing the car on Autotrader but did make sure it was the same vehicle by the vin number.

We told the salesman we were interested and told him to go and get the lowest price. He came back with $9995 and we just walked away without a word. When I got home I called the internet manager and told him I would pay $6000 for the car out the door if he would repair a piece of loose trim. He went to ask someone and came back and made the deal.

I understand having to make a profit but that would have been robbery. They tried to take advantage because my wife and myself are soft spoken and look gullible.

My truck is 6 years old next week with 120,000 miles on it. It will sell today within $5000 of what I paid for it. When I bought it a 2 year old identical truck with 30,000 miles on it was $1,500 less. There are good deals on some used vehicles, but in many cases it is just plain cheaper to buy new.

I've gotten the run around before in both large and small dealerships. Don't think there is much correlation. You have honest and dishonest folks everywhere.

I've had a few good car buying experiences at dealers, & a few nightmares. It helps to have all the information you can, & know when to walk.

The last time I bought new, I did it via phone/FAX. All the dealers knew exactly the model, trim level, color, & options I wanted, and they all had an equal opportunity to get the sale. I'm sure they didn't like selling the car that way, but my opinion is that it saved the drama for both of us.

A car is just a commodity. An expensive commodity, to be sure, but still a commodity. Go to the place with the lowest price, that treats you the best.

FC

I would rather have someone beat me with a stick than make me go to an auto dealer. Just talking to those vultures is about as inviting as a root canal.

You must like root canals.

I usually buy used but sometimes you can get a decent deal on a new truck. Just bought a new Avalanche, sticker for $43k, wrote the check for $36200. Many used versions were more expensive than that.

Easiest car deal I ever had was a couple of years ago when I bought my Wife a new Honda CRV. We knew what we wanted, color and all, but they were scarce. I found one at Fayetteville, AR. which is a four hour drive, one way. I had them price it on line and it was very competitive, so I told them that I would take it and when could I pick it up. We set a date and the wife and I drove up and looked at the car which was just what we wanted. They had the paperwork all ready and only asked if I wanted the extended warranty, and I told them only if it was free. The salesman laughed and said that it was not and did I want to finance. I said "No, I want to write a check". I wrote them a personal check and my wife got in the car and I got in the other car and we drove away. miles

Most of the people that come in with a chip on their shoulder and have the attitude of "sales people are lower than whale [bleep]" are treated that way too and usually their experience reflect that.
Treat us as a human and we do the same.
Been in the business for over 20 yrs and I love it.
Have learned that most of the lying, cheating, two-faced, scum are sitting on the other side of the desk.
There are good people out there. Most of the time if you treat people the way you would like to be treated it works.

About fifteen years ago, I was looking for a used pickup. Saw an interesting one on a dealer's lot and stopped by to look. I was driving an SUV at the time and the truck was to be extra, not a replacement. The salesman must've told me a dozen times he could take my vehicle out back and they'd determine how much trade-in value they'd allow. I also told him about a dozen times there's be no trade-in. Finally, he walked over to my vehicle and was starting to get in when my 125# overprotective dog woke up and snarled in his face. He jumped back and slammed the door. He began to stammer something about not telling him about the dog. I politely pointed out that I'd clearly said there'd be no trade so he had no business getting in my car. I also kindly mentioned that water shows well on khaki and he should've worn different pants if he was going to pizz himself. At least truck shopping was amusing that day.

It's well known that, "buyers are liars", and you're absolutely right that civility works wonders all the way around. And as was mentioned earlier, reasonable people don't expect companies to sell things without making a profit. It just seems like the process could be made a lot easier, & less painful. None of the, "good cop, bad cop" stuff, or, "Gosh, that's the last one of those we have" routines.

One would think the Sales Managers could put out a list each am of the bottom dollar price they'll accept on whatever's in inventory that day, & leave it to the salespeople to get at least that much, or more. No "icing the customer" while they go talk to the boss, just, "Here's what I can do for you, can we go ahead & start the paperwork?"

The dealership would have the bottom end covered, and could incentivize the sales force with an increasing commission structure for sales prices in excess of the bottom dollar: the more you can sell the cars for, the more of it you get to keep). The best sales folks would turn inventory & make more bank, the poorer ones would sell at the low price (or chase customers away & not sell anything), and would be shown the door pretty quickly.

Just an idea. And I'm sure it explains why I'm not a sales mgr @ a car dealership.

FC

I don't want a damn rebate. $50K sales price and get a $10K rebate? No. Gimme the car for $40K.

Used car dealers are the only business I know of where the price is based on how much they think they can get from any particular person.

If they were honest they would just have one price on any vehicle based on what they needed to sell it for to make a reasonable profit.

New cars are sold the same way. In any other industry, 'twould be deemed racist, or mysoginistic, or xenophobic, or whatever the hell. But for cars, it's fine.






I think it would be really interesting to see this. No salespeople - just a chalkboard in the window with the prices written down. Pick what you want, go to the order-taker, & drive away.

The only reason that a dealership hires salespeople, is to get as much $ for each car as they possibly can. Otherwise, they could just use chalkboards, & save the expense & headaches of having to pay, whip, & spur their sales force.

When I used to sell tractor attachments, I'd frequently run into dealers who'd refuse to even consider adding my products to their lot, saying, "In this area, it's all about price, & your stuff is way too expensive for what it does." At that point, I'd calmly say, "Then please hand pink slips to all of your salesmen, & send them home right now. If it's 'all about price', then there's no sense in paying people to try to sell your stuff at a higher price." And no, that line didn't work very often.

FC

There is only one way to buy a used car.

1. Only go to a dealer to decide on the make and model of car you want. Do not purchase now for any reason or amount.

2. Do extensive research on the used (10K-30K miles) make and model of your choice. Search Autotrader and other media over a period of a couple months and all around the country.

3.Now search to find the automobile of your choice with the mileage you want, available locally. You may now make an offer based on the actual value of the vehicle.

Never ever go to any dealership unless you know exactly what you should pay and knowing exactly what you want. If you do anything else you will pay too much.

I just got a "check" in the mail today from the dealer I bought a used truck from two years ago.

They're desperately in need of used trucks and want mine, and are willing to give me $9300 for a truck that retail blue books for over $19,000....

[bleep]' thieves....

They're not thieves, aalf. If they offer a price and you accept it, that's not stealing.

My wife and I were walking through the lot of our local Ford dealer this past Spring. Saturday afternoon and the dealership was closed but one of the owners happened to be outside. He saw us so of course he comes over.

Ended up going inside and drinking a couple beers. Gives us the set of keys to the vehicle my wife(sober..) wanted and we took it home for the weekend. Bought it later that week, pretty good deal.

Local dealer though and that makes all the difference.


Maybe could have saved a little money by going to a larger dealer hundreds of miles away but I doubt it.

It's good practice to support the local economy anyway, that and I'd feel like a total douche taking in a vehicle bought out of town in for service at our local dealer.

No you don't...laughin'

Took the Titan in a few months ago to discuss the front diff issue with the service department. While talking to the meckanick, a Nissan salesman shows up right on cue: "Have you thought about trading this truck in for a brand new one? We have plenty out on the lot.." . I didn't miss a beat, and replied, "Yeah, there's some real nice GMC's out there..".

The look on his face was priceless. He left about 2 seconds after that.